Q My mother-in-law’s mother, Hazel, was a Harvey Girl in Arizona. I’m not certain of the exact time period, but she started in Kansas City, then went to Ash Fork, Arizona. Harvey Girls couldn’t work and be married, so it had to be before 1912, the year she wed. I don’t know how long she worked for the Harvey Houses, but she came West to find cowboys! She did find her future husband.
This rug was hers, and I’m assuming it came from Arizona, but I have no idea how she got it or any history of it. It measures 24 inches square. Can you help?
A I first learned of the cultural phenomenon of Harvey Girls and Harvey Houses while on a cross-country trip 25 years ago.
From the 1880s to the 1940s, more than 100,000 women worked as “Harvey Girls” in restaurants all over the West. Established by Fred Harvey, an Englishman living in the United States, these restaurants and hotels contributed to the Western expansion of the United States.
Harvey worked as a postal clerk and freight manager for the Burlington Railroad; his base of operations was Topeka, Kansas. Prior to his restaurants, train travelers had no dining options while traveling and were at the mercy of unregulated roadhouses or local women selling meals out of their homes. These operators were subject to no standards of quality, nor were their schedules always aligned with train schedules.
Harvey proposed the idea of building cafes along the railroad, but his employer turned the idea down. He brought the idea to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad and was given an open-ended budget to secure sites and build restaurants across the West. These restaurants produced consistently fresh, high-quality meals served in predictably clean dining rooms by strictly regulated waitresses. The railroad delivered fresh produce and meat; the Santa Fe railroad even ran two of its own dairies.
Harvey advertised all over the East Coast for neat, articulate women of good moral character with at least an eighth-grade education to staff the dining rooms. These women received their tickets west, salary, room and board. They had to agree to stay in the Harvey employ — including not getting married — for at least six months.
If Hazel lived in Ash Fork, she and her fellow Harvey Girls likely worked and lived at the Escalante Hotel, opened in 1905. Harvey Girls abided by strict rules of dress and deportment both on and off duty. Still, most of these women married and stayed to raise families and communities; they are the ones considered to be responsible for bringing civility, culture and stability to the West.
Along with restaurants and hotels, trading posts developed along the rail lines. They offered Navajos a place to trade for items such as flour, coffee and tobacco, to which they had become accustomed during their years of forced internment. The Navajo items gained popularity with traders and collectors.
If Hazel married in 1912, the Navajo weaving might have been given to her as a wedding present. The colors and texture of the wool, together with the pattern, suggest that this saddle blanket-sized piece was woven in the first quarter of the 19th century.
The blanket is in poor condition: The looped ends are worn, and the warp and weft seem to be unraveling. It could be repaired, but the restoration would diminish its charm without adding much to the minimal monetary value it currently has. Make sure the frame’s backing is acid-free, and you can enjoy your Navajo saddle blanket for generations to come.
Jane Alexiadis is a personal property appraiser. Send questions to worth@janealexiadis.com.
